Magento vs Prestashop – Which is the better eCommerce platform?

To entry the eCommerce market at the first time, people tend to choose a platform that is easy to install, use and control, with a minimal setting up cost. The startup businesses have to consider their budget and the resource to control their online store. After a few years, the company conditions change and their need of features for the online store increases. You wonder that the current platform with simple things is enough for businesses or you need a powerful, complex and well-design system to reach customers and expand online stores. The online world is changing; businesses cannot be at a standstill.

In a specific example, assume that you have Prestashop store. Reports show you that the results of business are quite good. You have stable loyal customer number. Your profit is not too high but enough to say a slow increase. Are you satisfied with this result? If you say “No”, LitExtension suggests you consider about using Magento site?

Releasing from 2007, now with over 125.000 online stores and 7 versions, Prestashop targets in small – medium businesses. Magento released after Prestashop one year. Magento supports 15 versions and becomes the leader in eCommerce shopping cart according to BuiltWith.com.

Setting Up & Usability

Prestashop allows developer to install and set up easily with basic features. User interface is friendly. Prestashop does not offer a hosted solution. Setting Prestashop depends on the host you choose for online store. It is easy to set up only when the hosting company supports one-click installation. If you have to install by hand, you must have technical knowledge to install properly.

Magento interface is easy to use with many tutorial videos to help users set up. Magento is feature-rich and complex, so this platform demands technical skills, experiences to set up and control. Setting Magento site depends on version you choose. With help from tutorial videos, technical support team and large community of developers, the setup of Magento is simpler. It takes about 10 minutes to install a base version of Magento or a few hours to run a store.

Features

Prestashop provides over three hundred features. Outstanding features of Prestashop are site management, Analytics and Reporting, Taxes, Shopping and Payments. Prestashop is available in 40 languages, but only supports fully in English and French.

Magento is the most flexible full featured eCommerce platform available to all types of business. Magento supports many features such as RSS Feed, TAG, Product Comparison, Discount code, SEO, Wish List, Customer segementation, Multiple payment & shipping optinions and Product suggest tools with rating and reviews. Users receive better Search Engine Optimization benefits, multiple payment and shipping option. Magento supports multiple languages and currencies, which makes them a global solution.

Cost

Prestashop is an open source platform. You can download easily from Internet. It is easy to find available modules free of charge in the Internet. Paid modules are found in the Prestashop store or Prestashop community.

Magento is also an open source platform. Magento supports user at different needs. Community version downloaded easily to set up and run a business with necessary features. If you want to improve functionality, better support and highly flexible features to power your business, you can pay for Enterprise version. Moreover, Magento Go version is suitable for startup or small organization with only $15 per month for hosting.
In 2015, Magento overcomes Prestashop on the Twitter with 35 million followers in difference. In Google search result, Magento is higher than Prestashop with four times as many results. Magento has larger community and better support.

After thinking and communicating with professionals, you are sure that Magento is the better choice for your online store in many years to go. You wonder how to move your current website to Magento without changing database. You should do a trial with Prestashop to Magento Migration Tool. This tool is provided by LitExtension to help users to migrate data including Products, Categories, Orders, Customers, URL SEO ranking, Customer passwords to Magento. No third party involved, so migration process is safety and security.

In the reversed case, you feel that budget to develop Magento is too high with your condition and complex management system hinders development of your business, Magento to Prestashop Migration Tool is a good solution for you.

It is time to change your business and do short steps to the successful road.